What Kyle Wardlaw Learned Building Victory Financial's First Three Years

Kyle Wardlaw has a way of describing what he sees when experienced advisors first come to Victory Financial. Many of them, he says, have spent years running with a 20-pound weight vest on without realizing it.

"These large, mature institutions have continued to metastasize, and they can't get out of their own way," Kyle said. "You've been running with that weight vest on, and you don't even know it." The relief comes after the move. Advisors tell Kyle the same thing again and again once they transition: everything is easier, and there is far less friction in the way of the work.

Kyle has been with VF from the beginning, when it was just founder Jeff Davidson and three advisors who agreed to take a risk and start something new, and innovative with him. Over the past 36 months, Victory Financial has grown its assets roughly 20x, added more than 50 advisors, and welcomed professionals from close to a dozen different firms.*

Ask Kyle what drove that growth, and he starts with what surprised him most.

The Surprise That Started It

Kyle came into the business with over 15 years of prior experience in an advisor-facing roles, so he expected the move to an independent RIA to be an improvement. He did not expect the gap to be as wide as it turned out to be.

"The biggest surprise was just how different the RIA model is from the corporate, independent broker-dealer world," Kyle said. "Our advisors talk about it all the time once they come over. It's so much easier to get things done, and there's a lot less friction."

That ease shows up on the advisor's side of the desk, and in the back office too. Building and running an efficient platform to serve advisors, Kyle said, has been one of the most rewarding parts of the job. It is also a large part of the growth story, because the experience advisors have after they transition becomes the most persuasive thing the firm can point to.

The Pillars That Resonate

When Kyle and Jeff first aligned on what Victory Financial would stand for, they built around a short list: ownership, independence, market payouts, and open architecture. Three years in, those are still the ideas that bring advisors in the door.

Kyle quickly adds one more that doesn't fit on a feature list. The firm is run by people who sit in the same seat as the advisors they serve. "Jeff is an advisor. I've built wealth platforms before," Kyle said. "That's helped us build trust quickly, not just with our advisors, but with our vendor and platform partners. People sense that we're genuine when we say we want to do this right and take care of people."

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The Partners Behind the Growth

Kyle is direct that Victory Financial could not have accomplished what it has in three years without a few key partners.

Schwab sits at the top of that list. Beyond the resources and capabilities it offers advisors, Kyle credits Schwab as a partner that consistently helps the firm solve problems, and he describes the relationship as deep and strong.

Orion Portfolio Solutions became integral almost by accident. A couple of Victory Financial advisors wanted to use Orion's planning tools, and around the same time there was an advisor using Orion who was looking to make a platform change. A referral introduction was made and what sealed the relationship was how well Victory Financial supported that advisor through his transition. Orion saw a platform that would not compete with their investment offering, which made Victory Financial a safe place to refer advisors looking for a new home.

Advyzon has become another cornerstone. Kyle points to how much lives in one integrated system: trading, rebalancing, UMA capabilities, performance reporting, billing, CRM, and a newly rolled-out AI tool. One advisor recently told Kyle that a task that used to take half a day now takes 30 minutes. What Kyle values most is that the platform was built from the ground up rather than assembled from acquired pieces bolted together, which makes it genuinely dialed in to advisors' needs.

A Team Built From Scratch

When Kyle started, building a team was the last thing on his mind. The job was simple: take care of the founding advisors and make sure they had what they needed. As more advisors joined, that became more than one person could carry.

Most of the home office team Kyle has built over the past three years came into the business new, with little industry experience. He considers that a benefit that has helped VF scale so quickly. They are operationally sharp, quick to learn, and deeply aligned with putting advisors first.

"They've been adaptable and nimble, and they learned this business fast," Kyle said. "It's freed me up to focus on what I need to, and it's challenged me to get better at delegating and trusting and empowering them. They keep rising to the occasion."

What Separates the Fastest-Growing Advisors

Working as closely with advisors as he does, Kyle has a clear read on what the fastest-growing ones have in common. They treat the practice as a business, not a job.

"The advisors who grow the fastest are the ones approaching this as a business, not a job," Kyle said. In his experience, the distinction is a mindset. The advisors who scale think strategically about marketing, stay rigorously organized, protect their highest and best use of time, and delegate the rest.”

He acknowledges a bit of a chicken-and-egg reality, since reaching a certain size makes that way of operating possible. He believes adopting that mindset early is what gets an advisor to the next level.

Flipping the Model

The deepest idea in Kyle's three-year reflection is about who works for whom. On traditional platforms, he argues, advisors misread where they stand. "Your loyalty to those institutions only goes as far as you not being a risk to their brand," Kyle said. "The second you pose a risk, they'll cut you loose. Your prior loyalty buys you no goodwill."

Victory Financial is built to reverse that arrangement. "You don't work for me," Kyle said. "You are your brand. You are your business. We work for our advisors, not the other way around."

He takes the point to its logical end. If the arrangement ever stops working for an advisor, the advisors are free to go find a better option. "If someone wants to move on, we'll roll out the red carpet," Kyle said. "We don't want anyone here who doesn't want to be here."

What Comes Next

Kyle's plan for the year ahead is straightforward. Keep stewarding the platform well, stay close to what advisors need, and keep looking for advisors who want a different way to run their business.

After three years, the growth has taken care of itself, which is exactly what Kyle expected once the model was right. Build something advisors want to be part of, take the weight vest off, and let them run.

At Victory Financial, we're proud to support advisors who are building practices with intention, ownership, and a real commitment to the clients they serve. If you're considering what independence could look like for your practice, book a discovery call with our team.